Everybody is flawed. Which is a good thing, because it also means there’s usually one way or another to exploit just that. Also, with flaws come other merits, which, in turn, can be made use of as well. Not much of a surprise to people with some basic intelligence.

Me? I’ve got several. Everything comes at a price. I reckon that goes for geniuses as well. One being sound. It’s natural for someone who lost an eye or two to compensate the loss with the remaining senses. Usually that’d be hearing. I make no exception in this. The result? Loud noises hurt. A lot. And yesterday the gods of loud noise obviously had it in for me. Meh!

On the other hand I wasn’t the only one who suffered that night. For one thing, Alessandro seemed somewhat off… At the beginning of the evening he barely spoke a word with me, which in itself is rare. He also reached for my hand to say hi. The way he did it though is unsettling. Then again, if I had upset him he would have told me. And why wouldn’t he? He knows I need his support most of all, which gives him perfectly good leverage over me.

Freddy was there as well. Hadn’t seen him for over a month. He was a bit annoyed about not being informed about the near masquerade breaches. Then again… Why would I upset him when he’s in some far-off country anyway? It’s not like he could have helped in the matter. So why bother him with something like that. Doesn’t make sense and is very, very inefficient.

Speaking of inefficiency… Sanders clearly takes lead in that field. She so has her priorities in the wrong order! Not being able to answer your letters that deal with a very urgent matter and you’re telling me that you had something even more urgent on your plate? Something I haven’t heard of, that’s for sure. Since I haven’t it can’t be that masquerade-breachy. No point in working closely together with her.

Then there is Masha. She draws Thomas out of his quiet little corner. Jason is trying to establish good contact with her. I’ll do the same with Thomas. Her? Too much of a comedian to be an easy target or taken lightly.

The redeeming factor of the night was Jason, somehow. I guess I remain as weary towards his smiles as he is to mine. Doesn’t change the fact that he is good company and that – up to now – he gave me no apparent reason to distrust him. The poor fellow got his hand broken right when he came up from the parking lot. J.B. said hi in a somewhat overenthusiastic manner. So we both had a very painful evening. The girls afterwards helped though.

On to Clan Malkav. Alix was present again. And I swear to god one night she’s going to be the final straw. She does drive me mad! And Simon? Couldn’t even get rid of her. Says that someone pulled rank on him. So now we’ll be blessed with her presence again while he’s trying to get some guy back who’s in his debt. Wegener by name. For that purpose he’s looking for some elder of our clan.

Still have to talk to Baumgartner. Have to delay that till next week though. And I’ve got to finish the other two articles. Damn!